Combination dress-shield and bust-supporter.



PATBNTED AUG. 20, 1907 J. &' G. M. GUEST. COMBINATION DRESS SHIELD AND BUST SUPPORTBR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 13, 1905.

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JOHN GUEST AND GRACE M. GUEST, OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

COMBINATION DRESS-SHIELD AND BUST-SUPPORTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 20, 1907.

Application filed uly 3,1905- Serifll O- 269,498.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN GUEST and GRACE M. GUEs'r, citizens of the United States, residing at Oakland, in the county of Alameda and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in a Combination Dress-Shield and Bust-Supporter, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to a device which is especially designed as a dress shield, bust supporter, and corset cover.

It consists in the combination and arrangement of devices adapted to the above purposes, and in details of construction which will be more fully explained by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a view showing one half of the device. Fig. 2 is a section extended to form a corset cover. Fig. 3 is a pattern of the'under arm bust supporting section.

Our invention is designed to provide a means for supporting dress shields, such as are designed to protect the underarm portion of wearing apparel, so that said shields may be removably held in place without depending upon the garment worn over them, and to which they are usually attached; and, in conjunction with this we have shown a means for supporting the bust of the wearer, which means may be continued to entirely envelop the upper part of the body and form a corset cover.

It also comprises a means for preventing the arm shields from becoming wrinkled or getting out of place while in use.

A is the front, and A the rear portion of a shield which is fitted to lie beneath the arm of the wearer and protect the outer garments from perspiration. The part A is made approximately in the shape of a crescent and the part A is of rhomboidal form as it has its vertical edges made straight, and converge slightly from the top downward; the bottom being also approximately straight, and the whole of this rear portion A being of slightly greater area than the portion A. The two are united at the upper edge in a segmental curve in the usual manner and adapted to fit beneath the arm of the wearer.

To each of the edges of the portion A is connected a fabric 'as shown at 2 and 3. This fabric may be of netting, silk, muslin, or other suitable material. The part 2 extends around the back, these parts which are connected with the two shields, being united at the back by any suitable adjusting means as shown at 4, so that the size of the device may be measurably adjusted to the person for which it is fitted. The opposite attachment 3 extends from the edge of each of the parts A of the two shields toward the front, and these portions are rhomboidally formed and have tapes or other attachments as at G, by which they may be drawn together at the front, thus completing the attachment of the structure to the body of the wearer, and forming a support by which the shields are held in proper place. Straps 7 are continued from the upper edges of the part A and pass over the shoulders of the wearer.

The parts 3 serve in addition to their office, as attachments, to also support the bust of the wearer, and this portion 3 may be formed with darts or any other suitable way, rounded and convexcd, so as to fit the form of the wearer. And when the device has been secured, as previously described, these portions 3 of the device are found very effective for the purpose mentioned.

Considerable difficulty arises in the use of the ordinary arm shield on account of the wrinkling up of the shield and its getting out of place. In order to maintain it properly in place, we stiffen the portion A of the shield and hold it in shape by means of transversely placed stiffening ribs 8 of any suitable material, such as feather bones or other well known stiffeningmaterial, which may be secured in the portion A, crossing each other at right angles or otherwise. fixed, so that this portion will be maintained in its extended condition and will be prevented from being wrinkled or getting out of shape. By these stiffening devices, it is practically held in proper position with relation to the arm without the necessity of any straps encircling the arm. It will be readily seen that the use of these devices may be extended, and it may be made to form a corset cover by sufficiently enlarging the portions 2 and 3, so that the whole device will extend over a larger portion of the body, the upper and lower edges extending far enough to practically cover the corset.

When made of light weight material, it will be necessary to reinforce this by strips of heavier material; sewed in as shown at 10, and forming supports for the edges and also extending from the bottom up to the arm holes.

The front of the device is formed as previously described, to swell outwardly and form a bust support; and when by reason to form a-corset cover it is necessary to cut the garment in separate pieces, the pattern for the portion beneath the arm is formed with the curved front edge, as shown at 12, which produces the proper fullness of the front bust supporting portion.

This curve with darts restores the bust to the normal appearance, prevents spreading, overcrowding, and throwing up of bust under the chin.

Having thus described our invention, What We claim and desire, to secure by Letters Patent is As an article of manufacture, a combined arm-pit shield, bust-supporter, and corset cover, said shield consisting of front and rear portions, said front portion being fashioned substantially in the form of a crescent and'said back por tion being of substantially rhomboidal form and having straight and parallel vertical edges, and being of greater width than the front portion; and said bustsupporter and 1 corset cover comprising two pieces of fabric at each side each having; one edge secured to the vertical edge of the back portion of the shield and one of said pieces extending around the back, the other pieces extending around the front, and lacing means for the adjacent ends of said pieces.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN GUEST. GRACE M. GUESTv Witnesses S. H. NOURSE, I). B. RICHARDS. 

